


The Hunted

by volleyowlets



Series: The Hunters and a Murder: A Shapeshifting AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 14:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13526661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volleyowlets/pseuds/volleyowlets
Summary: That’s when Kei saw it. The glint of silver from within a bush. He didn’t think before he let out a loud screech.Or, the Shapeshifters AU that I wanted.





	The Hunted

**Author's Note:**

> Yes hello, welcome, I have returned from the depths. As always, please enjoy my fic, I appreciate any and all support that you give. 
> 
> For reference: docs.google.com/presentation/d/13OVKUwCk_hCivmuWhMtuNrTlFmr3MURLKrdkf8T6ae4/edit?usp=sharing
> 
> Note*: These are not all locked in as character shifter forms but I suppose it could make it easier if anyone wanted to know how I headcanon some characters

Darkness was safe. That was exactly what Kei’s mother had told him all those years ago, and he’d believed her. Back then, he only heard of hunters attacking during the day, when it was easier to hit a target. Now, he wasn’t so sure that the night was safe, but it felt safer. 

Despite his mother’s words, he hoped to move to the city soon. At least there were regulations there, that shifters couldn’t be killed during daylight. It was better than what he’d been subjected to as a child, before his brother had shown signs of being a shifter.

Neither of his parents were shifters. His father had been a hunter when he was a child, and as far as Kei knew his father still hunted shifters, now he just didn’t go after the crows. He’d seen awful things happen in the daylight when his father took him out as a child. Nothing could prepare a six-year-old for that amount of blood, nor the hideous transformation of a dying shifter. He still had nightmares of the twisted, mangled bodies of feline and canine shifters alike.

Tonight was no different than any other. He was heading to the forest. The clearing where all the shifters would gather to discuss locations of hunters before they grouped up and went to sleep. It was safer like that; no family members could kill unwanted shifters.

It was quiet as he approached the forest, soaring high above the trees. Just how he liked it. Not that that lasted long of course as he neared the clearing, hearing the yells of his fellow shifters. He never knew how it had come to be that he wound up with such a loud pack, but he appreciated the company. The non-hostile company at least. He shook the thought off.

“Oi, Tsukishima, what took you so long?” he heard one of the older crows call up to him.

He knew, of course, that his pack mates would be perched high on the trees, both in human forms and their crow forms. They each had a preference.

He shifted back into his human form as he landed, enabling himself to speak again.

“Hunters. Akiteru won’t be coming today either. My nephew has fallen ill and was taken to the hospital earlier,” he said, watching as his best friend landed beside him and shifted into his human form.

“Poor Kaito,” their leader Daichi said. “Hopefully he’s well soon. Now, is that everyone?”

A few nods went around the clearing, everyone shifting into their human forms across the treetops. Kei listened intently at a few crunches that echoed through the forest.

“Now, we know that the Hunters are coming out in larger numbers at night. Soon we will be required to relocate. As some of you are aware, the rest of the pack groups in the area will be joining us soon to discuss this move. We will also have a few shifters from the city packs to assist in the plans. This will include the Nekoma pack and the Fukurodani pack, and the leader of the Nohebi group,” Daichi said. “Does anyone have questions?”

A few heads were shaken, some people shuffled around looking as though they might shift back into their bird form.

Kei heard some sticks crack along the forest floor, and leaves shuffle around the trees as other animals began to appear. Canines, cats, eagles and owls entered, resting on low branches and hiding amongst bushes as they transformed. Kei was sure he saw a snake, just as a loud group of boys entered the clearing, their hair all dripping wet. He saw Daichi doing a head count as everyone settled, and then a loud voice spoke.

“Okay, now that everyone is here, let’s get this party started.”

It was a boy with white hair. Not someone Kei had seen before, so he had to be from the city.

“Kou, please shut up. We are on the verge of a war, we need to have a plan,” a boy with messy hair said.

“Thank you,” Daichi said. “Now that everyone is here, it is essential that we find a meeting point that will put us in less danger. We are sitting ducks the longer we all remain meeting here. As we speak Hunters plot our demise, but we cannot let them get us. We need a plan.”

“May I suggest something?” The leader of the Seijou pack smiled. “There is a beach some ways north. It is open and difficult to hide, but Hunters will expect us to hide.”

“Tooru, that could get us all killed.”

“Do you have a better idea, Hajime?”

Kei watched, an amused smirk on his face as their argument continued. He liked how the leader thought, the idea made sense, but perhaps they needed something a bit different.

“We need somewhere open, but with places that we can hide,” the messy haired boy said. “Tooru’s right. They won’t expect us to be out in the open, but we can’t rely on their lack of awareness to keep us safe. There will always be Hunters who know what we look like. I’m sure some of you have parents who hunt. We aren’t safe anywhere, but surprise could do us some good.”

Kei nodded along. He couldn’t have said it better himself, even Daichi looked like he was considering the idea.

“Does anyone have any ideas on where we might find a suitable place?”

The brunet leader of Datekou, Kenji, looked up and raised a hand.

“There’s a lake to the east. It’s fairly flat, I think. It’s somewhere I assume we can all get to. There’s some tunnels that lead from a nearby river so those of us who are of an aquatic nature can get there easily.”

A murmur of agreement sounded around the clearing. It had been far easier to come to a conclusion than anyone had thought possible. No one seemed to have any issues with what had been discussed.

“Okay. So we can go there as of tomorrow. Pack leaders will check the location out tomorrow, preferably during daylight as we will be able to see hiding places much easier.”

Daichi continued to speak as Kei’s gaze fell to a boy with sandy hair shifted into an owl, turning his head slightly as though he were picking up sounds from around the trees.

That’s when Kei saw it. The glint of silver from within a bush. He didn’t think before he let out a loud screech.

“RUN.”

At his yell, the first shot rang out across the clearing. A bullet hit the tree behind a tall blond, who shifted quickly into the form of a cheetah, his companion doing the same. Kei glanced around, watching the shifters as they ran. The boys who’d come from the river had run, and Kei hoped they had made it away from the Hunters in time.

A shifter about Kei’s age looked frightened as his shifted into his form as a young bear cub. One of the older shifters, another bear with a golden snout nudged the young cub into moving, both fumbling along as they left.

Kei couldn’t leave though. He had transformed, but he didn’t move from his place on the tree. His eyes had looked beyond the bears, toward a man who didn’t look too different to himself. Sure, the older man was greying and had begun to get deep wrinkles, but one look and you could tell.

His father was one of the Hunters.

His father had started the war. 


End file.
